A brace from David Dunn against his old club Birmingham ensured Blackburn collected three points that virtually guarantees their Barclays Premier League survival.

Dunn, who spent three-and-a-half years with the midlands outfit before rejoining Rovers in 2007, fired past Joe Hart after just five minutes to give the hosts the lead.

James McFadden equalised for Birmingham after the break direct from a free-kick before Dunn's 67th-minute header sealed a win that takes Sam Allardyce's team 14 points clear of the relegation zone with seven games to play.

Dunn rifled Blackburn ahead against his former employers in the fifth minute, taking down a failed clearance by Roger Johnson and lashing the ball past Hart.

Rovers seemed in control but within 10 minutes of the restart, they had been pegged back.

Morten Gamst Pedersen felt he was hard done by after referee Mark Clattenburg awarded Birmingham a free-kick just outside the box for a push on Johnson, but McFadden stepped up calmly to curl the ball around the Blackburn wall and into the bottom corner of the net.

Seven minutes later though Rovers had regained their lead, and Dunn was the hero once more, heading El-Hadj Diouf's corner home from close-range after out-muscling Stephen Carr.